May 22, 2013

Nowadays we rarely hit the road without at least some gadgets in tow. Smartphones, tablets, digital cameras and a slew of other devices have all made travel simpler. And there are many more interesting cool and helpful gadgets getting designed...

Keeping the batteries on all of those gadgets fully charged can be a real challenge, especially when traveling through remote locations. Fortunately, there have been some excellent advances in solar charging, which have made gathering energy from the sun a more viable way to power our devices while on the go

sCharger Solar Charger
Solar technology is the buzz phrase in most recent new gadgets announcements. From Superman movies, and brand new one coming out next month, we know that my favorite alien gets his power and recharges from the Sun. Now your smartphone can do that too. sCharger Solar Charger can charge smartphone, iPod, eReaders, and many other devices.

The solar grid that comes as part of the kit, collects the sun's energy to charge Sherpa 50, the inverter that you actually use to charge. It takes about 5 hours for a full charge. Then charge your laptop or smartphone. It takes only 2 hours to charge the computer. It can also be charged from a wall outlet for a faster charge or away from sunlight.

Nectar Mobile Power
Most chargers, even "wireless," need to be plugged into an outlet. Nectar is a “plug-less” charger, getting its power from Power Cartridges, called “pods,” rather than traditional wall outlets. Per company's website, an individual power cartridge can power or recharge travel size gadgets for several weeks. Rather than a traditional lithium ion battery, Nectar uses a proprietary Silicon Power Cell technology

Smart Watch
People don’t wear watches anymore. I did a post some time ago on the topic of wearing a watch and that I dont do that anymore. New Cool Gadget Find of Today: Wrist watches making a comeback?. I also wrote that I might wear a watch that had more function. Well fast forward to today and companies that are at forefront of innovation are developing smart watches that can do a lot more than just tell time. Or even tell you who is calling. Smart watches are still very much in their nascent stage. But guess what? Wearing a watch might just be making a come back.
Samsung has confirmed that it is working on its own watch. Meanwhile, Apple reportedly has more than 100 people working on a curved-glass iWatch that runs iOS and Google is said to be working on its own high-tech timepiece. With these smarter watches you can:
- Glance at info to save time
- find out which calls are worth picking up (or ignoring), which messages are worth responding to, which tweets are worth re-tweeting and more. No more having to constantly unlock your phone for no good reason.
- track your steps with a pedometer, track calories and also your heart rate
- use the Bluetooth 4.0 standard, which employs low-energy technology specifically designed for smart devices. Which can actually save your phones battery
- with your phone in your pocket, dictate a message or social update to your wrist, see who won last night's game and get the 5-day weather forecast.
- quickly check your inbox without whipping out your 5-inch phablet. A smart watch would let you do that quickly and more discreetly.

Stash Waterproof Pocket Shorts
Go swimming without having to worry about:
1. leaving your cell phone, keys and wallet on the beach without supervisions
2. having your phone or wallet get wet and for your battery and dollar bills go for a dip
These shorts are currently in the concept stage and are crowdsourcing funding through Kickstarter here

FitBit Flex WristbandFitbit Flex Wireless Wristband that tracks your activity and sleep patterns and syncs with a smartphone app to show you how active you are and your overall lifestyle. The band syncs with an Android (Samsung Galaxy S III or Note II) device or iPhone via Bluetooth, latest comes with 4.0 synchronization, and uploads the data to a smartphone app as well as to your online profile. FitBit Flex can measure how many steps you have taken, calories burned and quality and amount of sleep. The band is water-resistant, so it can be worn throughout your travels.

Audio-Technica Debuts $99 SonicSport Headphones
Designed for fitness buffs, the headphones sport an active-fit earphone design that features a flexible pivot ensuring a comfortable in-ear fit. SonicSports will also allow ambient noise to filter through so wearer’s can be aware of the surrounding environment. Instead of an over-head headband, the SonicSport’s band wraps around the back of the wearer’s head for a more secure, comfortable fit. There’s also a cord-mounted remote with controls for volume and music playback functions.

Pocket-Friendly Canon PowerShot NSmall point-and-shoot, measuring 3.1 x 2.4 x 1.2 inches, camera that can upload photos and videos to the Web or a social network with the press of a button. PowerShot N has built-in Wi-Fi. On its back is a 2.8-inch LCD that tilts up 90 degrees, and the front has a wide angle lens with an 8X optical zoom. Which is pretty good for a camera of that size. The higher the optical zoom the better photos would look if zoomed in on. Read more about optical zoom here Buying a Digital Camera for Travel.

GPS Reinvented
In one of my recent posts I mentioned that the maps on our smartphones, while good to have, are quite limited. And while GPS was thought to be going out of style, are actually still an essential travel gadget. Garmin proves this even more with its newest GPS, Garmin nüvi 52LM GPS Travel Assistant.
It does all of the basics that GPS these days offer. Plus this new device has a
Garmin Real Directions guide that displays easy-to-see landmarks, buildings and traffic lights, rather than street names. Similar to the type of directions a person would give you. It also has Active Lane Guidance with voice prompts to keep you from swerving, a live-action model with brightly colored arrows that indicate the proper lane needed for your next turn, and photoReal and Bird’s Eye Junction Views to navigate confidently through interchanges. All new Garmins come with Lifetime Free Map update.

Did You Know?:
Technology and fashion collide at Textiles Nanotechnology Laboratory. Researchers are working on creating clothing made with conductive cotton that can charge an iPhone via solar panels.

Accessorize Your Travel™:

About

Dmitry & TTGTTG - the go to place for discovering travel gadgets prior to traveling anywhere and everywhere.
We are passionate about travel and equally or more about tech gadgets and travel gadgets. We believe that we can save you time and money by doing the leg work and putting all of the best travel gadgets to take a long on a trip to make traveling more interesting, comfortable, convenient, and fun, in one place. Go Travel. Take a Gadget.® TravelTechGadgets.com

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